Now isn't this rich. Washington state troopers are giving $124 tickets to motorists who use hand-held cell-phones, enforcing a new law that critics say isn't tough enough. (The Columbian, The Daily News, Longview, WA, June 11) And last month, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon banned all UN employees from using cellular devices while driving in an effort to take the prohibition global. Ban is teaming up with US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and Jennifer Smith, president and co-founder of a national advocacy group, FocusDriven, for the global campaign. Ban told reporters in New York:

We wish we were joking. From the NY Daily News, June 1:

Move over C-3PO.

The Japanese space agency is embarking on a mammoth $2.2 billion project to put humanoid robots on the moon and create an unmanned robot lunar base by 2020, according to Prime Ministers office.

The government of Bolivia announced a preliminary study for a program of uranium exploration in the southern department of Potosí this month, and broached the possibility of uranium exports to Venezuela. The program, projected at costing $500,000, will be financed by the Potosí departmental government and carried out by the National Mineral Geological and Technical Service (Sergeotecmin). The Bolivian Institute of Nuclear Technology, a moribund agency since its uranium processing plant in Potosí was closed 25 years ago, may be revived if the exploration program is successful.

The New York Times in a front-page story May 26 said that President Barack Obama will send up to 1,200 National Guard troops to the Southwest border and seek increased spending on enforcement there to combat drug smuggling. The decision was disclosed after Obama met the previous day with Republican senators to discuss the issue.

Mexican President Felipe Calderón, speaking at the US Congress during a visit to Washington May 20, urged legislators to reinstate an assault-weapon ban, saying violence in Mexico escalated when the ban expired six years ago. "There is one area where Mexico needs your help, that is stopping the flow of assault weapons and other deadly weapons across the border," Calderón said. "Let us work together to end this lethal trade that threatens Mexico and your own people." (Bloomberg, May 20)

Noam Chomsky, once demonized as a crypto-Zionist on this website, has been barred by Israeli authorities from entering the West Bank. From AFP, May 16:

Renowned Jewish-American scholar and political activist Noam Chomsky said he was barred from entering Israel and the West Bank on Sunday to speak at a Palestinian university.

Why is there more outrage in the national media about mosques being built than about mosques being vandalized?
From the Detroit News, May 16:

Vandals hit Downriver mosque twice within a week
Brownstown Township — Police are investigating two incidents of vandalism that happened within a week at a local mosque. Windows were broken and doors were smashed at the Masjid Umar-bin-Khattab Mosque on May 9 and again on Saturday, with the second attack caught on videotape, said spokesman Muhammad Khan.

New York City's kneejerk jingos, already aghast that the hubristic "Freedom Tower" name has been dropped from the new skyscraper going up at Ground Zero, have got a new cause to gripe about. From Fox News, May 14:

Plan to Build Mosque Near Ground Zero Riles Families of 9/11 Victims
Outraged family members and community groups are accusing a Muslim group of trying to rewrite history with its plans to build a 13-story mosque and cultural center just two blocks from Ground Zero, where Islamic extremists flew two planes into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.